Pages

Saturday, July 21, 2012

First, we send our prayers, concerns and deepest thoughts to all the victims and their families of this senseless and unprovoked attack in Aurora, Colorado.

In the words of President Obama:

"As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family," Obama said. "All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbours."

The American right to bear arms:

The Bush/Cheney justification for the Iraq War was that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. And with Saddam's track record of using WMD on his own people (American made and purchased WMD) and his alleged ties to known terrorist organizations something had to be done ASAP.

Of course, in hindsight, we now are fully aware of how the intelligence was cherry picked, distorted and in some cases flat out fabricated. But the main thrust of the argument for war was: WMD in the wrong hands represents a dangerous threat that will not be tolerated and has to be stop at all cost.

So tell me: Why does the NRA, GOP, and right-wing conspiracy advocates insist that all Americans have the right to own, purchase and bear WMD?

Don't get it twisted, the human hunter in Colorado legally owned an arsenal so vast what else can we call it but WMD?

This American terrorist possessed:

Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition online, along with four guns at local stores.

Some versions of the AR-15 assault rifle that police said was one of three guns James Holmes carried into the movie theater massacre were outlawed for civilian sale under the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. Since then, all versions have been legal for sale and possession in the U.S.

The AR-15, widely distributed by more than two dozen manufacturers in a range of calibers, is a semi-automatic rifle that fires shots individually, with each pull of the trigger. Aftermarket parts available at sporting goods stores include magazines big enough to hold 90 bullets. AP reports Holmes' gun was equipped with a high-capacity, drum-style magazine.

The suspect also had two .40-caliber Glock handguns and a 12-gauge Remington Model 870 pump shotgun. source

He wore:

Police said Holmes entered the sold-out movie theater dressed in black, wearing a ballistic helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, protectors over his throat and his groin, a gas mask and black tactical gloves. source

To further demonstrate the legally owned WMD by this American terrorist: his apartment was elaborately booby-trapped in such a potentially dangerous level, five surrounding buildings had to be evacuated:

The one-bedroom apartment rented by the suspect in Friday's shooting rampage inside a suburban Denver movie theater appears to have been rigged with an array of sophisticated booby traps that one official described as "unique."

The law enforcement official said that video shot by robots shows at-least a dozen "victim-initiated devices" -- none of which appear to have been equipped with timers -- inside the apartment. "You normally don't see this situation," the official said. source

To me, it's not the external threat of WMD that represent the greatest threat to American lives: our greatest threat -- witness daily urban violence, random school massacres, work-related violence and public mass shootings -- are legally owned WMD:

In a piercingly familiar drama that has terrorized places such as Columbine, Virginia Tech and Fort Hood, innocent moviegoers — one victim was just a few months old — were shot as they sat, gunned down as they frantically tried to escape. Spent shell casings and the smell of gunpowder and some sort of gas arced through the air, according to witnesses. Bullets pierced walls in an adjoining theater source

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid gets my vote for the best summation of what this presidential campaign is about:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says a group of "angry old white men" is bankrolling conservative outside groups that are spending millions to influence the fall elections.

"If this flood of outside money continues, the day after the election, 17 angry old white men will wake up and realize they've just bought the country," Reid said on the floor. "That's a sad commentary. About 60 percent or more of these outside groups' dollars are coming from these 17 people. These donors have something in common with their nominee. Like Mitt Romney, they believe they play by their own set of rules." source

Hey dude I want my country back

How else do you describe it when you have such vile, ugly and unprecedented comments from GOP surrogates that try to outdo each other on the outrageous meter?

Take for example the latest, Romney's attack dog, former Governor John Sununu:

In the span of one morning, top Mitt Romney surrogate John Sununu referred to President Obama as dumb and stupid, called the Chicago political culture from which he came "corrupt," brought up Obama's admitted use of marijuana as a kid in Hawaii, resurfaced the name of Tony Rezko -- the jailed financier with ties to Obama -- and then questioned the president's Americanness.

The Obamas in the White House is obviously an affront to these angry white men and they are throwing temper tantrums. Each time the perpetually whining Speaker of the House John Boehner cries one can hear his sentiment loud and clear: I want my country back

To this demographic, older white men that loved the 1950's mythical era, the country's population shift is terrifying. They find it hard to embrace multi-cultured and diverse America and instead of expanding their base with the times -- making inroads with Asians, Latinos and African-Americans -- they have decided to circle-the-wagons.

To be sure, it's not about policy: they will loudly denounce their own ideas if Obama embraces them. It's not about rallying together in hard times: they would rather have a scorched-the-earth disaster than work together to fix America's economic woes.

It is about their perceived exclusive ownership of America and American values. To them, it is their country and we should just act like nice and appreciative guest.

Stewart said: “This retroactive retirement is the worst use of a time machine I have ever seen.”

Stewart also mocked Romney for claiming that those who criticized him were trying to punish his success: “Nobody cares that Mitt Romney is rich. It’s Romney’s inability to understand the institutional advantage that he gains from the government’s tax code largesse, that’s a little offensive to people, especially considering Romney’s view on anyone else who looks to the government for things like, I don’t know, food and medicine.” watch video

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Many consider former President Bill Clinton the Michael Jordan of politics -- peerless. Clinton could connect, charm, press flesh (don't go there), and frame an issue like no other.

Well, if Clinton is the quintessential communicator, Mitt Romney has to be the anti-communicator.

Mitt Romney's Bain Capital conundrum

Mitt is filthy rich and wants all of us to know why: He is a great businessman -- his words -- and he insists that as a hugely successful businessman, he is the man to fix America's economic woes. This is his campaign mantra -- nada mas.

Hence, Mitt dared us to check out his business resume.

We did and discovered that Bain Capital (Mitt's company) is not part of the American economic solution -- quite the contrary -- Bain is a major part of what is broken in our economy.

BC looted vulnerable companies, drove up their debt-to-profit ratio, laid off workers and gave themselves huge bonus whether the companies survived or went belly-up.

To etch-a-sketch away his BC career drag, Mitt insisted that he had nothing to do with post 1999 Bain -- when BC was going gangster on American jobs outsourcing:

“I had no role whatsoever in the management of Bain Capital after February of 1999.”

“I left in February of 1999 to go out and run the Olympics.”

“I went out and did that full-time, relinquished all management authority and role in Bain Capital after February of 1999.”

“But the truth is that I left any role at Bain Capital in February of ’99.”

“And I had no role whatsoever in managing Bain Capital after February of 1999.”

And with those words, the man that created BC has stepped into his own BS:

Mitt Romney is under fire after new reports suggest he stayed at Bain Capital longer than he claimed.

The Boston Globe, citing SEC documents and financial filings with the state of Massachusetts reported yesterday that Romney stayed on at Bain years past his official departure date of February 1999. (The paper refused a request from the campaign to issue a correction yesterday afternoon.)

And the Huffington Post obtained sworn testimony Romney gave to a June 2002 hearing determining whether he had sufficient residency status to run for governor in Massachusetts. In it, he says he “remained on the board” of a company Bain was heavily invested in, which would contradict earlier statements.

If Romney did indeed stay at Bain longer than he’s claimed, it’s potentially more than just a political problem, but a criminal one as well, a top ethics watchdog in Washington tells Salon. Romney filedtwo personal financial disclosure forms with the Office of Government Ethics in 2007 and 2001 relating to his presidential runs stating explicitly that he “has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way,” since 1999.

“I think if Mitt Romney was aware that he was still the head of Bain, and if he filled out a form that failed to include that information, that’s potentially criminal. Intentionally providing inaccurate information can be a crime,” Melanie Sloan, the Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) told Salon.

Specially, it would violate the False Statements Accountability Act of 1996, 18 USC § 1001, a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison. “I can’t really imagine why he would have done this. But it does seem like a big problem. And it does seem like — how would he not know?” Sloan said. “Filing accurate financial disclosure forms is not optional. They’re not suggestions.” source

Follow by Email

The Three Wisemen

"It always seems impossible until it's done"

About Me

To my blog followers of healingsouls, I welcome you to the launch of Harvey's Global Politics blog.
This blog will be exclusively dedicated to domestic and international politics - my true passion.
As a political-science graduate from Virginia Union University, I strive to simplify political news, in order that the average reader can better understand how it relates to their everyday life.